Body Composition Measurement With MRI

Mayfair Diagnostics is the first medical imaging company in Canada to offer private pay body composition profile (BCP) services! Using our MRI technology and an artificial intelligence and bioinformatics platform, BCP MRI provides an individualized description of a person’s body composition based on a rapid MRI scan.

Finding your individual body composition profile is important because your fat-to-muscle ratio can be different from someone who is the same height, weight, and age as you. Your scale can only tell you your weight, and body mass index (BMI) only tells you the ratio of your weight to your height; they don’t measure body fat.

BCP MRI can provide a greater understanding of your body and the ability to personalize clinical care. It shows a greater depth of information than BMI, allowing a detailed look at your tissue.

WHAT CAN BCP MRI SHOW?

The BCP MRI scan measures the amount of fat and muscle in major body and organ areas. It looks at the following:

• Visceral adipose tissue – Also known as visceral fat, this is belly fat found deep within your abdominal cavity, surrounding your stomach, liver, and intestines.

• Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue – Also known as subcutaneous fat, this type of fat is just below your skin.

• Liver fat – Fat within the liver can cause inflammation, which can damage the liver.

• Muscle volume – The amount of muscle you have.

• Muscle fat infiltration – Amount of fat present within muscle tissue, a measure of muscle quality.

A healthy body composition profile shows less fat and more muscle mass. An increase in visceral fat can lead to increased health risks, specifically for diabetes and heart disease.

HOW DO I GET A BCP MRI?

BCP MRI services are offered as private pay services only. They are not covered by the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. A BCP MRI must be requested by a healthcare practitioner.

As part of this exam, Mayfair Diagnostics will perform a neckto-knee MRI scan at our Mayfair Place location. Once your images have been gathered, they will be sent for analysis and a Mayfair radiologist will generate a report that is sent to your referring doctor within five business days.

This report will provide patient-specific body composition profile measurements and comparisons to reference data ranges, giving context to the results. Each measurement is visualized in a bar plot, where each patient’s information is presented in relation to the distribution within a body-size and sex-specific reference population.

For more information about this exam and its cost, visit our website or contact us at 403-777-3000.